James Robert Flynn (1934–2020)

I found it a little hard to read in spots. Sometimes he makes a real effort to explain things to laypeople, other times it seems like his audience are experts. Also the organization is kind of jumbled and he tends to meander. I wish he had coauthored the book with a great science writer. There’s definitely a lot of interesting stuff here but it’s not presented well.

I take this marvelous book to be an optimistic look at the progress of human mind based on careful analysis of evidence. With sharp wit and just enough humor (which made me laugh out loud on some pages), Flynn does what he promises at the beginning of the book: Give a lecture to the well-educated reader who is not necessarily an expert in psychology or IQ testing. I'm surprised to learn that there is a substantial rise in the IQ scores throughout the years and my first reaction was that show more there should be something fundamentally wrong IQ tests. Fortunately Flynn proposes arguments to solve the paradox and those arguments are really well-thought and well explained with very helpful analogies. His emphasis on how quickly our minds evolved to cope with the sudden rise in the complexity of society is in a sense optimistic for me because even though we know that the evolution of our brains proceed very slowly, we can rely on our thinking styles to progress much faster (not that I think evolution is a kind of progress towards an ultimate goal, it is just that I find it nice to see that our 'software' uses the underlying 'hardware' more and more efficiently and this is visible by looking at a mere 60-70 years of IQ testing).

To mention a few points I found Flynn's analysis of twin studies to dissect the paradox of IQ tests and the problem of environment versus genes very enlightening. His criticism of Gardner's multiple intelligences and short speculation of whether it is right to rank people according to some quantifiable metrics is also worthy of further discussion. On the other hand I'm a little bit reluctant about his explanation that the population owes the general rise of IQ to the widespread scientific thinking but at least he does not forget to mention that this kind of thinking and reasoning does not prevent people's quest for very problematic areas.

This book deserves to be an important reference for anybody who considers questions about measuring intelligence, evolution of mind and the subtle but long-standing effects of society and environment on the thought processes of individuals. The book should also be read to witness the complexity of the history human cognition if for nothing else. show less

Every time I teach about Carol Dweck's work on self-theories of intelligence, I ultimately get some kind of push back along the lines of "but some people really are smarter than others." That's despite the fact that I routinely (and generally repeatedly) disclaim the idea that Dr. Dweck's work suggests that there is no such thing as IQ. There is. But just what it is, and how and in what circumstances it matters, is a much more complicated question than most of us ever consider. James Flynn show more however, has considered it in great detail. He's the researcher who first noted that IQ scores in the united states have been going up about .3 points per year for most of this last century. In this book, he covers exactly what aspects of IQ have been increasing and suggests a rationale for why. This is a thoughtful but accessible work that's well worth a read, or two or three, for anyone interested in either of my particular areas of interest -- education or law. show less

Short answer: yes, but in specific ways demanded by our modern world. He considers the work of psychologists like Jensen, et al, from a sociological perspective, and adds more explanatory value than can be derived from statistical analysis in a vacuum (which has often seemed intended to buttress right-wing preconceptions about race and gender).

The book also sums up some of Flynn's other related work and sketches a series of research ideas that he hopes will be taken up by the next show more generation. What a breath of fresh air! show less